Doom And Gloom: Overreactions To Utah’s Slow Start To The 2026-27 Season

This has not gone as well as we had hoped. Seven games into the season, and all that the “winning time” Utah Jazz are bringing to show and tell is a solitary one-point win against a subpar New Orleans team and a head bowed in shame. It was a depressing show-and-tell presentation for this premature Jazz team.

But growing pains are part of the deal. Winning in the NBA isn’t as simple as a change in mindset; it’s a change in identity. A fundamental shift in the direction of a franchise will take time to set, especially one as drastic as going from hunting the number-one overall lottery odds to walking the thorn-riddled path toward the Western Conference playoffs.

Just as Michael Scott learned that it takes much more than shouting in the office to declare bankruptcy, Utah is learning firsthand that flipping the “winning” switch is much harder than simply making a declaration. The Jazz wanted and expected to win many more basketball games this season; they clearly still have some growing up to do before they can reach that switch.

Still, it wasn’t ridiculous to expect more from this team by now. They traded for Jaren Jackson Jr., one of the best front-court defenders in basketball and a multiple-time All-Star, to pair alongside Utah’s in-house All-Star, Lauri Markkanen. They drafted Darryn Peterson, a player touted as one of the best guard prospects in recent memory and a future star. They re-signed Keyonte George, rewarding him for his steady growth and remarkable leadership.

But 1-6 is 1-6, and the Utah Jazz are way off course at this larval moment in the 2026-27 season. Not all is lost, but much needs evaluation and careful reconsideration. So let’s play a game that I like to call “Doom and Gloom”. The rules are simple: I’ll share an opinion that I’ve thought myself or heard from others about Utah’s unsettling beginning and determine whether said opinion is “Doom”, a bad omen and an imminent issue, or “Gloom”, an overreaction that, while based in reality, doesn’t tell the whole story.

Evaluating the Biggest Overreactions to the Utah Jazz’s Awful Opening

The Jazz are one of the worst teams in the NBA: Gloom

No, the Utah Jazz are not winning basketball games. Yes, that is a massive problem, and a legitimate cause for concern for a team whose goal is to win basketball games.

But this problem, as with all others, deserves some context before it stirs up panic.

The biggest factor, I believe, is the Jazz’s strength of competition. According to ESPN’s RPI, the Jazz are tied at number-one for the hardest schedule in the entire NBA. They’ve faced the reigning Western Conference champions, San Antonio, twice while the Spurs were at full strength. Who could have foreseen the Memphis Grizzlies, who Utah faced twice, starting the season at 6-1? In fact, all the teams that beat the Jazz at this point of the season are a collective 22-6.

Despite the majority of this Jazz core having played together for years, this is a team still discovering itself. Give them time.

Injuries are going to sink the Jazz’s playoff chances: Gloom

Injury luck has not flipped in Utah’s favor early — five big men have been injured at some point in the season — but to blame their shortcomings on injuries is disingenuous.

Jusuf Nurkic hasn’t been available since the first game of the preseason, Jaxon Hayes went down with an injury against Los Angeles, and then Markkanen and JJJ went down in the same half against Memphis. Markkanen and Hayes returned quickly, but shortly thereafter Mo Bamba — who has been unironically excellent — rolled his ankle in San Antonio.

That’s bad luck, and Utah will obviously underperform without their best players on the court. But playoff-caliber teams regroup and find ways to win while shorthanded. If the Jazz can’t win while JJJ recovers from his MCL injury, their playoff chances were slim from the start.

Utah’s young core is a disappointment: Semi-Doom

Alright, it’s time for some therapeutic pessimism. On the topic of Utah’s young players, I have to be painfully honest: Utah’s tanking-fueled draft yield has been tragic.

Let’s look at the Jazz’s body of work in terms of draft picks. Of their four lottery picks, only two are still on Utah’s roster. First to leave was Taylor Hendricks, who spends his days at the end of Memphis’ bench and doesn’t appear likely to sign an extension at the end of the season. It’s a similar story for Cody Williams, who, despite generating plenty of preseason static in Minnesota, has appeared in five games and scored zero points.

Utah traded up to pick Florida star Walter Clayton Jr. last year, and he’s already on his third NBA team.

As for the draftees still on Utah’s roster, Isaiah Collier’s team option was just declined, and Kyle Filipowski hardly sees the court even as injuries pile up in Will Hardy’s frontcourt rotation.

Sensabaugh’s minutes have been uneven, but he’s filled his role well and had the trust of his head coach to replace Darryn Peterson in the lineup when their first clash with San Antonio entered overtime. Still, his status with the team is uncertain as he approaches the final year of his contract.

That list doesn’t inspire much optimism, but it isn’t all bad in terms of the youth of Utah.

Keyonte George has been excellent this year, with the exception of a stinker against San Antonio. Ace Bailey is a revelation, making winning plays with and without the basketball, playing stellar defense, and becoming an offensive rebound magnet. And Darryn Peterson, despite looking uneven out of the gate (more on this later), has still shown flashes of what makes him such an enticing prospect.

Semi-Doom is a bit of a cop-out, I’ll admit. But there’s still reason to believe in Utah’s young core, even if the majority of their swings have inarguably whiffed.

The team has bad body language: Doom

Even worse than seeing Utah lose five consecutive games is seeing how the team has responded to adversity.

Without a rallying cry or an increased sense of urgency, this team is full of players with no experience winning at an NBA level. They haven’t been able to hit that next gear, and the team mopes on the court, on the sideline, and in timeouts.

This is all about perception, so I might be out of line, but winners turn losing streaks into winning streaks. Utah is giving its fanbase little reason to expect a turnaround because they don’t appear to expect one themselves.

Darryn Peterson is off to a slow start: Gloom

Being a guard in the NBA is incredibly difficult, and development isn’t linear.

What we’re seeing in Peterson isn’t a lack of basketball talent, ability, or confidence. In fact, he’s displayed all three of those qualities in droves in his young career. Instead, we’re observing the metamorphosis of a college star into an NBA-level player. Darryn Peterson joins a Utah Jazz team where he is the fourth offensive option behind Markkanen, George, and Jackson Jr. Finding his place in the rotation and getting accustomed to his new circumstances was bound to bring growing pains.

The biggest concern has been his lack of athletic burst and top-end speed, keeping him away from the basket. Instead, he’s sustained himself on a diet of floaters and mid-range jumpers, while getting comfortable with a quick-trigger three-point shot.

For every poetic dribble combo leading into a buttery-smooth jumper, Peterson is due for a forced off-balance fling. He’s playing in the big leagues, which means the competition is bigger, stronger, and faster than he’s ever faced.

And I’m still highly encouraged by what he’s displayed to this point. The jumper looks slick, comfortable, and will find its target with greater consistency over time. Keyonte was a sub-40% shooter from the field as a rookie; he shot 45.6% in his third year.

The offense isn’t clicking: Doom

Alright, I’ll wave the red flag for this one. Utah’s offense has been abhorrent this season, and we can’t blame tanking on their ratings anymore.

Currently possessing the 29th-ranked offense in the entire NBA, the Jazz have scored under 100 points in their last two games. Lauri Markkanen played in both of those games and has performed well beneath his standard. At just 16.5 points per game, the player who has been Utah’s offensive pillar and averaged over 26 points per game a season ago is shooting below 40% from the field.

Against San Antonio on Monday, Markkanen and Peterson were the only Jazz players to score in double digits.

The absence of Jusuf Nurkic has been devastating to Will Hardy’s offensive game plan. Heavily reliant on ball screens and passing from the center position, Jaxon Hayes simply isn’t the playmaker this system requires to succeed. Nor are Mo Bamba or Tony Bradley.

Having to adjust on the fly, the Jazz offense has been clunky, ineffective, and overly dependent on self-creation to pose any real threat. Either one player’s injury has truly been that catastrophic to Utah’s offensive integrity, or Will Hardy is struggling to conjure up an alternative play style. Either way, none of this is good.

Calvin Barrett is the Associate Editor for SLC Dunk and a Utah Jazz columnist for the Standard-Examiner. Originally from Springville, Utah, he currently writes from his desk in Japan.